New business for group risk has suffered a sharp decline over the 12 months to March, according to DEXX&R's latest insurance statistics.
It said total group risk new business declined by 31.5 per cent to $678 million over the year to the end of March 2013.
OnePath and MLC did record an increase in new business, with OnePath increasing inflows by 26.35 per cent and MLC by 4.9 per cent.
AIA Australia, CommInsure and TAL were listed as the top three insurers by market share. However all three faced declining new business of -36.29 per cent, -41.46 per cent and -36.17 per cent respectively.
OnePath increased new business market share from 6.43 per cent to 11.87 per cent and MLC from 6.49 per cent to 9.94 per cent, but AIA, CommInsure and TAL saw new business inflow market share decreasing by between 1 and 3.5 per cent.
In-force group risk premiums increased by 11 per cent to $3.7 billion over the 12 months to March, with AIA and TAL recording higher increases than the market average. AIA increased 12.9 per cent to $984 million and TAL 14.3 per cent to $797 million.
The insurance company has joined this year’s awards as a principal partner.
The $135 billion fund has transitioned away from TAL Life Insurance following an “extensive tender process”.
The $80 billion fund is facing legal action over allegedly signing up new members to income protection insurance by default without active member consent.
In a Senate submission, the Financial Services Council has once again called for further clarification that the government will assess the consumer outcomes of group insurance against the enshrined objective of superannuation.